Office of Program Operations & Local Engagement

As Acting Director of OPOLE, John Hammarlund is responsible for ensuring the smooth policy implementation and operations of the Medicare and Federally Facilitated Exchange (Marketplace) programs throughout the country, as well as leading the agency’s strategic outreach and engagement with local stakeholders nationwide.

Prior to assuming this acting role, John served as OPOLE’s Deputy Director for Local Engagement & Administration, in which he directed CMS’ consumer education, stakeholder outreach, community partnering, and environmental scanning portfolio in all ten federal regions across the country. He supervised the ten CMS Regional Administrators and the Staff Director in Puerto Rico, who serve as the eyes, ears, and voices for CMS to local communities nationwide. 

John’s background includes work in both the public and private health care and insurance sectors. He has been with CMS since 1993 in a variety of policy and management roles, including at CMS’ Office of Legislation in Washington, D.C.

A Seattle native, John holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s in health administration from the University of Washington, and a Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School.

Erin Sutton is the Deputy Director for the Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement, Drug and Health Plan Operations. She leads the administration of the Medicare fee-for-service program at the regional level to protect over 60 million beneficiaries, supports over 400 health plans through oversight of Medicare Advantage and Marketplace organizations and ensures the Medicare program’s fiscal integrity. Erin has served at CMS and in the private sector for more than 18 years and has held numerous positions throughout the agency, primarily focused on Medicare Advantage and Marketplace, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Part D, special needs products, the intersection of managed care markets, and the No Surprises Act.  During her OPOLE tenure, she has led a functional reorganization of 300 staff, reduced misleading marketing, and improved customer quality and service turnaround across Medicare Advantage and Marketplace for hundreds of thousands of consumer issues each year. Erin’s team also leads regular executive health plan discussions addressing operational issues impacting millions of consumers and delivery of services with taxpayer dollars.

Prior to joining OPOLE, Erin served as the Deputy Group Director for Payment Policy and Financial Management Group in the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, where she created premium stabilization programs and oversaw billions of payments to issuers on and off the Marketplace, and launched the first ever ‘interim reports’, data sets and peer-reviewed articles giving more public access to risk adjustment information.  During this role, she also served in the CCIIO Front Office, working collaboratively in leading the launch of the No Surprises Act alongside the Department of Labor & Treasury Internal Revenue Service; providing early parameters for transparency and consumer relief and protection from surprise medical bills through the patient-provider dispute portal. Erin has served in successive leadership positions, including division director for risk adjustment operations, pre-existing insurance programs, and bundled payments. Additionally, Erin served at the Office of Legislation and as a special assistant to executive leaders in the Center for Medicare (CM) working across Medicare Advantage and Part D fee-for-service programs and detailed at the Office of Management and Budget in the Medicare branch. Prior to CMS, Erin held roles at Avalere Health LLC; a national managed care organization and provider and patient health delivery organizations focused on Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial markets. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s in Public Health Management from the George Washington University.

Tiffany Swygert is the Deputy Director for the Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement, Innovation and Financial Management. She leads the administration of the Medicare fee-for-service program at the regional level to protect over 60 million beneficiaries, support over 1.6 million health care providers, physicians and practitioners through oversight of Medicare Administrative Contractors, Accountable Care Organizations and CMS’ innovation models, and ensure the Medicare program’s fiscal integrity. Tiffany has served at CMS since 2005 and has held numerous positions throughout the agency, primarily in the Center for Medicare. 

Most recently, Tiffany served  as the Deputy Director of the Technology, Coding and Pricing Group in CM.  She simultaneously served as the point person for Part B Drug policies related to the Inflation Reduction Act. Tiffany recently returned to CMS after serving as a Senior Advisor for Medicare to the Domestic Policy Council in the White House on a one-year detail. In that role, Tiffany was responsible for a broad array of Medicare policies and advised on policy for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.  She has also served as the Director of the Division of Outpatient Care in CM, and worked for several years in the Office of Legislation. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Health Sciences in Health Policy and Management as well as a certificate in Health Finance and Management from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is originally from the Bay Area in northern California. 

As OPOLE’s Acting Deputy Director for Local Engagement & Administration, Sharon Graham directs CMS’ consumer education, stakeholder outreach, community partnering, and environmental scanning portfolio in all ten federal regions across the country.  She is honored to supervise the ten CMS Regional Administrators and the Staff Director in Puerto Rico, who serve as the eyes, ears, and voices for CMS to local communities nationwide. 

Sharon’s background includes work in both the public and private health care and insurance sectors. She has been with CMS since 1992 in a variety of roles, including as an account manager for Medicare Advantage, special assistant to the Regional Administrator, Deputy Consortium Administrator, and Regional Administrator for CMS Philadelphia. 

Sharon holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Moravian University and a master’s degree in political science from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Ray joined CMS in June 2011 and is currently the Deputy Director for Strategy and Business Operations within the Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement (OPOLE). In this role, he provides executive leadership for OPOLE’s shared business operations for 650 staff in 11 locations across the U.S. His previous role was Deputy Consortium Administrator for the Consortium for Health Plans Operations (CMHPO) and Regional Administrator for the Boston and New York Regional Offices (Regions I & II). As the Deputy Consortium Administrator, he provided oversight and guidance to the 10 CMS regional offices across the country for the administration of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. As Regional Administrator, he worked diligently to strengthen engagement and partnerships with a variety of CMS stakeholders while promoting awareness of all CMS programs through outreach and education throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Ray served 20 years in the United States Navy as a commissioned officer where he held diverse leadership roles including two successful Commanding Officer tours. Hurd earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Norwich University and a Master’s Degree in Management from Troy University. 
 

• Serves as the senior level point of contact within each Region for counterparts in CMS, Department leadership (including the HHS Regional Director), as well as external stakeholders. Creates and maintains regional location cohesion and leads regional efforts to improve employee engagement.
• Responsible for consistently and effectively implementing the Agency’s local outreach strategy and messaging.
• Serves as the regional lead for environmental scanning and issue identification, systematically providing a regional perspective in advising the Office of the Administrator on national initiatives and their impact on program beneficiaries, consumers, key partners, and major constituents.
• Responsible for providing the regional voice in the Agency rural health strategy, advising on effective goals, tactics, and success metrics, and implementing the strategy at a local level.
• Serves as the regional focal point for emergency response management for employees in regional locations as well as coordinating the local response to emergencies in accordance with Agency Continuity of Operations, Disaster Recovery, and Emergency Response and Preparedness Operations protocols.
• Implements national policies and procedures to support and assure appropriate State implementation of the rules and processes governing group and individual health insurance markets and the sale of health insurance policies that supplement Medicare coverage.
• Provides Medicare health and drug plans with technical assistance to comply with program requirements, monitoring plan compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, and sub-regulatory guidance.
• Serves as the regional partner in the monitoring and oversight of Qualified Health Plans and Stand-Alone Dental Plans operating in the federally-facilitated exchanges.
• Responds, handles and oversees resolution of inquiries and casework concerning Medicare beneficiary and federally-facilitated exchange consumer rights and protections, enrollment, eligibility, coverage, and costs.
• Serves as the regional focal point for CMS interactions with Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and innovation models.
• Serves as the regional focal point for CMS oversight of the Medicare Administrative Contractors’ program and fiscal integrity function.
• Implements national policy for Medicare Parts A and B beneficiaries and health care providers.